Translation. "Is year of elections and we should say something about science".
To enjoy the article at this fullest, play this in the background with an orchestra of tiny violins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMbvcp480Y4
My pleasure
Science and scientific expertise are more important than ever
31–40 of 211 posts
Re: Science and scientific expertise are more important than ever
#32Independent interpretation (ie. done not for clicks and views) of scientific data is more important than ever.
Re: Science and scientific expertise are more important than ever
#33> An engaged and well-informed public has always been the foundation of our democracy Is there even a shred of scientific evidence to support this hypothesis? I see it in print so often that it appears to be a axiom that is considered so correct as to be unquestionable.
Democracy has never really relied on people being well-informed. The "wisdom of crowds" incorporates a lot of ignorance. It just assumes that ignorance is random, while informed opinion will tend to have a bias in favor of reality. If 49% of the people make a random guess one way, and 49% of people make a random guess the other way, then 2% of people who actually know something will put the best-informed answer over…
That is a great way to put the issue. I have struggled to put this into such concrete terms and now I'll be using this going forward. Thank you!
Re: Science and scientific expertise are more important than ever
#34Maybe the reason we are in this mess is because we relied too much on science, and too little on actual humanities (rhetoric, logic, and so on)? I hear about hermeneutics more and more in my circle: how to communicate trumps what is communicated.
I can see why Fauci and many top scientists fail to convince people like Trump and his supporters: he knows, but can't communicate what he knows so that information is conveyed, and not simply stated.
Re: Science and scientific expertise are more important than ever
#35Politicizing science will make science less scientific and more political. It will not work the other way.
This Atlantic article cites a study which indicates that scientists don't lose credibility when advocating for political positions: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/02/when-sci...
Now, this is different from what you've claimed, which is about the effect on science itself rather than the credibility of scientists to the public. But I believe the study only showed short-term effects. In my view, long-term political advocacy is likely to make people view scientists differently than they view them now.
Re: Science and scientific expertise are more important than ever
#36Politicizing science will make science less scientific and more political. It will not work the other way.
The counter-argument is that there is no value in doing scientific research if you don't use the results to influence human choices.
Re: Science and scientific expertise are more important than ever
#37> An engaged and well-informed public has always been the foundation of our democracy Is there even a shred of scientific evidence to support this hypothesis? I see it in print so often that it appears to be a axiom that is considered so correct as to be unquestionable.
Democracy has never really relied on people being well-informed. The "wisdom of crowds" incorporates a lot of ignorance. It just assumes that ignorance is random, while informed opinion will tend to have a bias in favor of reality. If 49% of the people make a random guess one way, and 49% of people make a random guess the other way, then 2% of people who actually know something will put the best-informed answer over…
> The nudge towards reality is easily overwhelmed by a thumb on the scale of the wrong answer.
What’s the evidence supporting this?
I've noticed this trend of all sides of every political debate declaring that the other side has fallen for "fake news." In actuality, it's often that people with the "wrong answer" just have a different value system than the people with "right answer."
Re: Science and scientific expertise are more important than ever
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
I made the terrible mistake of trying to convince someone out of this insane view only to remember the old quote, "You can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into". Maybe we should just devote the entirety of a school year to basic rationalism and logic...
If we start now, that will start to make a difference in a couple of decades. What do we do until then?
Hang on as best we can. The best time to plant a tree is a century ago, but the second best time is right now.
Re: Science and scientific expertise are more important than ever
#39Maybe the reason we are in this mess is because we relied too much on science, and too little on actual humanities (rhetoric, logic, and so on)? I hear about hermeneutics more and more in my circle: how to communicate trumps what is communicated. I can see why Fauci and many top scientists fail to convince people like Trump and his supporters: he knows, but can't communicate what he knows so that information is conve…
It has to start with truth though, and science is the only method to gain truth about the world. Logic can infer but you still need to test the assumptions.
That's not to say that communication isn't important, it's crucial, but communication without science is useless. In fact, we see just what happens with excellent communication and no science: outright fake news, fake claims, manipulation, loss of freedom, and worse.
Re: Science and scientific expertise are more important than ever
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Democracy has never really relied on people being well-informed. The "wisdom of crowds" incorporates a lot of ignorance. It just assumes that ignorance is random, while informed opinion will tend to have a bias in favor of reality. If 49% of the people make a random guess one way, and 49% of people make a random guess the other way, then 2% of people who actually know something will put the best-informed answer over…
> The nudge towards reality is easily overwhelmed by a thumb on the scale of the wrong answer. What’s the evidence supporting this? I've noticed this trend of all sides of every political debate declaring that the other side has fallen for "fake news." In actuality, it's often that people with the "wrong answer" just have a different value system than the people with "right answer."
I provided a link. You don't get to sea-lion me by just repeating "evidence" until you've demonstrated that you've at least read the sources I gave you already.